Project Name: Woven Hemp Hanging

Designer/brand: Kitty Wilson Brown & Claire O’Sullivan at Contemporary Hempery

Inspired by a sense of place, Contemporary Hempery is situated where there was once a thriving and economically important industry, growing and processing hemp into a fabric which clothed and provided household linens to people across the UK. 

The project’s 3 aims are to:

• Revive the growing of hemp for textile in East Anglia

• Create luxurious colourful patterned hemp fabrics

• Work in community, connecting people, land and materials.

This hanging is woven from hemp yarn grown and hand processed at Wakelyns Farm in Suffolk during the summer of 2022. The plant, which is naturally organic (requires no fertiliser, no insecticide, no herbicide or weed killer) grows to 8 feet in 12 weeks and produces a fibre both soft, strong and extremely hard wearing. Its fibres were hand spun on a wheel, then dyed with plants, before the weaving took place on the farm in August 2023. It is believed to be the first piece of Suffolk grown hemp to be put on a loom for a hundred years or more.